


List of things not to do in a desert other world.

by DoppelgaengerDoodle



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Angst, Desert other world, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2018-04-04 13:06:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4138686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoppelgaengerDoodle/pseuds/DoppelgaengerDoodle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>After listening to episode 70 I needed to make a fanfic, but I thought that it would be stupid to do just the end of things without the beginning, so... Here you are. Hope you like it.</p>
        </blockquote>





	1. Why?

The first thing that came to my mind when I landed on the other side of the door was the word “cold”. It was hot. My brain was almost burning, but inside, I felt cold. Really cold. My smile froze in my face as I tried to get up, pushing the sand down with the palm of my hands. I don’t know where that reaction came from. I mean, Steve seemed really nice, he even said he liked my eyes. But then… They don’t understand. I was trying to help, as always. Trying to make his daughter more useful, more productive. I wanted to make her feel happy, just like I feel. Yes. Like I feel. I don’t remember how or when it all began. I am the now, I say. Because “I am the now” is what I learnt to think. It’s not my fault. It really isn’t. 

This was the first time in years that I had felt so cold. So sad. So empty. So free. I didn’t know what to do. “Why move? There’s nothing to do here. It’s just a desert, but it’s not MY desert. It’s not home”. I tried to smile, but my smile seemed faker than usual. Just keep smiling and everything will be alright. But now it won’t. Why smile? Why did I smile all those years? And now I am alone. I don’t know where to start. This is just chaos. Empty chaos, but chaos nonetheless.  
I have to go back. 

I tried to get up once more, and failed miserably. I don’t know how long I was there, still, with my head painfully empty after all this years. I even missed the bits of pain. I was thirsty, but it wasn’t like I was going to get water here. I was so tired. My muscles didn’t want to move, they lacked the electricity. I tried to speak –I don’t know to whom- and my voice sounded harsh. The only thing they left that was still mine and now it was gone too. They said the blinding light, the Smiling God, was coming through the doors. Then why wasn’t it there for me? Where did I go wrong?

And then, a surprise. Doubt was not punished. Not this time. I waited for it, wanting something that would make me feel at home again. But it didn’t come. Time passed slowly as the breeze made the sand dance in the sunlight. It was beautiful. Not beautiful like the beautiful that we learnt at home. A random beauty. Chaotic within the rules of physics. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. I could lay here for a while. Is not like anyone will be looking for me. Maybe, when StrexCorp wins, they’ll open the door once again and I’ll be able to get back. There’s no place like home.

I finally turned around and sat down looking where the door was supposed to be. There was a mountain in the distance. Night was, of course, not an option in this place, so I would be able to see the door clearly when and where it appeared. So I waited and waited, in the sun. I felt my skin burn slowly, but some part of my brain was screaming that, if I moved just for one second, if I decided to look for shelter, maybe I would get lost and never be able to get back to the door. So I stayed. And then, it all went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After listening to episode 70 I needed to make a fanfic, but I thought that it would be stupid to do just the end of things without the beginning, so... Here you are. Hope you like it.


	2. Meet the Scientist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Scientist finds someone in the dessert.

The door was closed. I promised Cecil I would find a way to come back but, as the last member of the army walked through, the door didn’t wait for me. I had just hang up the phone. I was really hoping to hear his voice, that soothing, dark, sweet voice, but well… Voicemail should be enough. He must be fine. Right? He is always fine. So am I. I am a Scientist, for goodness sake. 

So I was standing right there, with the umbre- the _device_ in my hand, not knowing what to do next. And then I saw a body. It was in the middle of the dessert, lying in the sand. When I got closer I was able to see the stains in his shirt. I didn’t know what to hope: if it was his blood there was no way –like, scientifically speaking, at least, but I am not sure if the blood of the citizens of Night Vale was as different as the flow of time there- he could be still alive, but if it wasn’t… "I didn’t know that the battle was that harsh". 

I came closer and saw his face. **Joder. Cecil.** He looked terribly like Cecil. He just couldn’t be here. I froze there, standing a few feet from him, looking at that smile, those closed eyes, that burnt skin. I felt my heart stop. No. This couldn’t be him. He would have told me if he were going to step through the door. And he didn’t look exactly like Cecil. There were lines where they shouldn’t be, old wounds and changes I didn’t remember. But still. That face. The possibility.  
The mind plays tricks sometimes, but that was straight up cruel. When I think about it now, I can’t believe I mistook him for Cecil. But at the time I couldn’t do anything but run to him, lean and make a shadow over him with the device. Ok. He was breathing. He had a pulse. A weak pulse, but it was enough. I had to move him away from the heat. I had to get Alisha or Kgkgkgkgkggkggkkkkggggggggkkkkkk. And find some water. Quick. 

-Cecil!! Cecil!! –I turned around and looked at the rest of the group- Alisha, we have to take him to the mountain. Joder, Cecil, si me hubieras avisado…

“ _Surely he wanted to surprise you. Surely he wanted to see your smile when you saw him go through the door. But now he was isolated and he got lost and almost died because of you._ ” I didn’t know what to do, whether to hug him or to smack his face for being such a stupid, lovely, romantic person. So I hugged him, telling myself –and him- that he’d be ok, that he just needed some rest, that he had had it worse, that it was all ok, that we would both get back home safe and sound.

* * *

The dark went darker for a moment and I heard a voice, calling me. Well not me. Cecil. My old friend. I couldn’t say anything, couldn’t even open my eyes. The voice touched my neck and sighed, with relief. I thought I heard him say something, really fast, in a language I couldn’t understand. And it hugged me. He told me everything was going to be alright, that he was here now, that we would find a way back. I wished it was true. He screamed for help from some friend, named, I think, something like Kgkgkgkgkg, and then backed up. The shade went away and the darkness became bright again. Some other person grabbed me and started walking. I could have said something, but at the moment… I felt safe again. Like before Strex came. You would probably think that I was naïve, but… Even if I knew that they could have been hostile, they didn’t seem so, so I kept quiet and stood still while the giant carried me, just in case.

Then it got colder again, and we entered some kind of building. From what I heard at that moment, it seemed tiny, with beeping and booping everywhere and a faint smell of lavender antiseptic. It made me remember the retraining sessions. I decided to discard that thought. Anyway, the retraining sessions were not necessary now, but… _Oh, no_. The thoughts I had when I was alone. They _WERE_ listening. I couldn’t start with that again. I wanted to say something, but my voice didn't agree.  
They lay me down and gave me some water, asking if I was okay, but by a wrong name. With the little energy I had left I just nodded, still with closed eyes. If I look something _might_ happen, I might see something I shouldn't. I know how these things go. But they didn’t ask me anything. There were no shocks, nothing. It's a trick. That, or things have really changed since the last time, it seems. Then the first voice hugged me again, so tight I couldn't breathe. They just lay me in a tiny bed, stepped back, turned off the light and said:

-You’re going to be fine, Cecil. We’re going to get you home and –The voice paused for a second, full with exhaustion. He was saying that, not to me, but to himself- you’re going to be just okay, okay? See you tomorrow. I love you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, chapter 2. Still not a lot of dialogue yet. Still working on it.  
> Also, not sure of how you write *gutural sound*, so Kgkgkgkgkgk will have to do  
> Thanks once again for reading. Comments and tips are appreciated.
> 
> Send me prompts at http://dnsknr.tumblr.com/


	3. Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevin wakes up and can't hide who he is anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everyone.  
> Sorry for the delay. It's been entirely too long.  
> Had a desert to cross on my own and just didn't write for a while. By the time I started writing again I just felt nothing could make up for the wait. Anyway. It's been long enough, so I'm posting it.  
> As always, tips and comments are welcome.  
> I hope you enjoy it.

I didn’t know how long I had been sleeping. It seemed as if it was just _minutes_ ago I just blinked, in the middle of the desert, so hot and so cold, and now I was _here_. Then, recollection. The shadow, the arms holding me, the cold inside the building, the smell, the pang of fear. The way the voice said something reassuring I couldn’t quite place. Waking up a few times to someone giving me water, hand in mine, saying little nothings about _our_ cat, about an old woman, about the station. And then again, it seemed like it had happened _months_ , _years_ ago.

I had a terrible headache, my muscles were cramped, and a sharp pain hit me, like a needle on the back of my sockets, when I opened my eyes, not even registering it as a menace anymore. Couldn’t be worse than this –well, it _certainly could_ , but I chose not to think about it. For a moment, I tried to scan the room from the bed, trying to find something familiar in there, but it was too dark, windows draped over with some blankets – _thank god for that_ , I couldn’t handle any more sunlight right now.

  
When I moved to get up, my head spun, a huge pressure on my temples. My heart was beating like I had just come back from a company picnic, pounding against the inside of my ribs, with more than a little collaboration from my lungs, who seemed to be too _eager_ to see the room. My breaths were shallow, and I tried to calm myself down, trying to hold onto the edge of the bed, fearing that I might just fall as I hung my legs over it. It was really tiresome, for some reason. The mere movement of clasping my hand against the sheets made my bones ache and my skin feel like a canvas.

“I’ve had it worse”, I muttered quietly, “so much worse than this. There’s no hooks this time, it’s just my skin, _hugging itself_ a bit _too_ tight”. And I tried to smile at the cuteness of the thought. My face felt dry like leather as it stretched, and the tears flowing weren’t helping; They were so heavy on my cheeks, like someone was running a bone folder over, _through_ , them. My lips broke as I tried to tighten them to form a smile wide enough that would distract me from the pain. I didn’t want it to be a grimace. The blood felt heavy. I reached up and touched it, winced a little, and it seemed surprisingly cold against my fingers.

Blood had never been a problem before that, but for a moment I felt terribly disoriented and lost my grip, falling down to the ground like a ton of bricks. There was a carpet there, soft, purple, fluffy. The hit hurt anyway, but at least my face was now laying on something like a cloud. I lay there for a little while, blood forming a small puddle under my face. It dawned on me that, maybe, the owner didn’t have my style of _redecorating_ and would want to keep it free of bloodstains or bones or all those fun little trinkets. I felt kind of nervous of having to explain that...

  
The door swung open a little too fast for my taste at the moment, startling me and making me raise my eyes to see. My heart skipped a little as I saw, silhouetted against a bright yellow light, a beautiful man in a lab coat. It was just a beat until he practically ran over to me, taking my face into his hands and wincing at the cuts on my lips, looking strangely at the scars, like he had forgotten something. I just looked at him, a bit too close but not close enough.

He looked happy to see me. He looked relieved, but his eyes were full of concern. He looked exhausted. There were bags under his eyes, he had stubble and his hair was tousled but, somehow, _perfect_. It was dark, but it reminded me of the way the sand danced in the desert. That beauty and chaos within the laws of physics. I wanted to cry when he helped me turn over on the carpet –“ ** _Please_** , not away from your face,” I thought “please, _let me see the sand_ again”- and just hugged me from the side.

  
“Cecil, you shouldn’t be up” his voice was so sweet, so quiet, trying to sound calm, arms around me. I felt hot, but the touch was… Calming, in a way. My smile was a little more real. It was that voice that had _saved_ me “Are you hurt?”

“I…” I started to say, voice hoarse and mouth terribly dry. I coughed a little and tried to smile. “I’m _fine_ , _friend_. Just a little _blood_ , no-” Even before I could finish speaking, he moved away and withdrew his arms. It pained me. His tone changed as he practically jumped to a stand. I turned to follow him.

  
“Who the fuck are you?” His voice sounded scared, menacing. The sweet look in his eyes changed to a steel gaze. He stared at me and, for a moment, I was afraid. “What have you done with Cecil!?” His voice sounded almost broken when he said that name. I raised one of my hands up, trying to gesture that I meant no harm. I coughed through my next words:

  
“Ce-Cecil is my _friend_. I would never _hurt_ my _friend_ ”

  
“You are the man on the radio!” He almost roared with wide eyes, pointing at me. He stood frozen for a second, gritting his teeth “You almost killed everyone! You’re **Strex**!” He spat that name and I couldn’t help but feel hurt.

  
“I’m… Kevin”


End file.
